Spartan Vacation: The Original
by ParamedicJun
Summary: The Spartans venture from their home planet Reach to Seattle, Earth, then move on to Disneyland! laugh mercilessly as they struggle through security and plane rides, not to mention the Happiest Place On Earth! JorgexRosenda, OCxEmile.
1. Chapter 1

**This is the original Spartan Vacation. For those of you who have stuck with me since the beginning, I don't suggest rereading this as I didn't change anything. But for those of you who haven't, please enjoy the original version of Spartan Vacation!**

"Noble Team, ready to respond, sir.", Carter told Holland over the telecom, "What's the situation? Rebels? Or are the Covenant-"

"Slow down, Noble One" Holland said patiently, "There is no mission today, but you are being ordered, you and all of Noble Team, to take a long vacation."

There was a silence, heavy with disbelief. Then, Emile broke into a laugh, jeering at Holland, "A _vacation_? What would I do on a _vacation_?! Please, Spartans are killers, not _tourists_!" The rest of Noble stayed silent in agreement, but none of then were as bold as Emile, so they stayed quiet.

Holland ignored Emile and addressed Carter again, "Rosenda is to come with you as well. Be ready to leave at 18:00 hours. Holland out." The telecom shut down, leaving Noble Team to think about what Holland had said.

"Was he joking? He was kidding, right?", Kat said from behind Carter, "He didn't give us much to believe he was telling the truth. We don't know where we're supposed to be going at 18:00, much less where they're shipping us off to!"

"He's probably handing us over to Halsey again, so she can do the same kind of experiments she did to Jun. . .", Thom said, glancing at his Spartan comrade, who was huddled in the corner, shaking. If a civilian had been there to see it, they would have laughed at the seemingly stoic Spartan, over six feet tall, shuddering like the world was out to kill him.

"I don't know what this is about. Kat, can you look into this-", Carter was interrupted by the telecom, which had switched itself back on as someone tried to talk to them. A blue glow brightened the dimly lit room.

"Um, ah. . . Noble Team? This is Amaya. I'm going to show you around Seattle while you stay. I was told by Mr. Holland to give you instructions. You need to pack a lot of clothes, and I will give you money once you arrive. . .um, please board the six o'clock plane to Earth. I will meet you at the airport. Um, goodbye." The hologram of the teenage girl fizzled out.

"Yeah, and we trust her?", Jun asked, emerging from his corner.

"We have to.", Carter said, "Or face the consequence for disobeying orders."

~##~

Noble Team waited in line very patiently to purchase their tickets at the airport. Holland had decided to contact them and give them the details, finally, and he had made it very clear that they use a civilian airline. Emile was sure that he only did that to make him nervous. After buying their tickets, the six giants headed over to security. For all of them, being at close quarters and having their things looked into was an extremely uncomfortable situation.

First up was Jorge, who removed all metal objects as told and even chatted with the personnel. He passed through like a breeze, grinned at the rest of his quaking team, and gave them a thumbs up. Jorge watched his commander, Carter, go through fairly easily, but a little uncomfortably. Rosenda, the curly haired brunette, came next, all smiles and sparkles, as always. Sometimes she was even better than he was at dealing with civilians. The problematic one that turned everyone's stomachs inside out was Emile. He passed through the metal detector without doing anything he was supposed to. After ten minutes of quarreling with the guards, he finally agreed to take of his shoes, belt, and anything else metal. Emile walked through the metal detector and grimaced like a boy who had been caught chewing gum in class as the siren wailed and the security officer finally caught sight of the biggest problem—Emile's precious kukri.

"Knives are not permitted in carry-on bags or on person. They have to be in a suitcase and paced in the-", the guard started to explain, a little impatient.

Emile turned on the guard and muttered, just loud enough that the guard and all the Spartans with superhuman hearing could hear, "_Nobody_ separates me and my baby, unless they want their _heads_ separated from their bodies." With that, the guard moved on to Kat, who had all sorts of gadgets and knives stashed on her, but passed through without setting the alarm off.

"_How did you do that_?", Emile hissed at her, while Thom went through the menial security tasks with Jun.

"Do what, Emile?", Kat asked coyly, slipping on her high heels. They were the same color as her armor, robin's egg blue. Her skirt hit her a little too far up on her legs, but she was graceful. Her shirt was a tank top that accentuated her muscular arms, earning her quick glances and some prolonged stares form passerby.

"You got through without setting the alarm off. We all know that you have more tech and metal stashed on you than I've killed Covies._ What did you d_o?", Emile pet his kukri in the long pocket in the side of his cargo pants.

"Just a little frequency interference. That's all.", Kat answered, then she whistled. Jun had just tried to pass through the metal detector, which beeped for apparently one time too many. An alarm went off, and two guards came up to seize Jun. None of his comrades got up to help him. Jun wasn't as threatening as Emile, so he was dragged away by the guards, sobbing the whole way.

"I've heard that in civie airports, when you get taken away by the guards, you're never seen again." Thom sat down by his teammates, tying his converse.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, we wait? Or go without him?", Kat asked Carter after they had been waiting for Jun for quite a while. Carter looked quizzically at his subordinate, curious why no one in his team had tried to help Jun. They were going to miss their flight unless Jun got back soon, or one of them went to make excuses for him, as they had always had to do in training.

"I'll go talk to the guards.", Carter sighed, dragging his suitcase behind him. He got instructions from a security officer standing to one side on where to wait for his friend, and he headed down the halls, using his size to buffer smaller people and to get there faster.

Carter sat down on a bench outside a door that said, "SECURE AREA : ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK" on it. That, he assumed was where they had taken Jun. All he had to do was wait patiently until Jun came out, then run to the plane, and get away from all these civilians. While it was in his record that he had little trouble handling Civies, he had more trouble than some might think. Carter hated, really hated, anything small, high-pitched, and pink. Id est, almost every teenage girl on the planet. And the airport was swimming with them. He couldn't wait for the quiet isolation of the airplane, where he could be alone with his team, and everyone was over seventeen and no one wore pink. . .horror washed over Carter. He wasn't riding a military plane. He was riding a civilian plane. For all he knew, he could be surrounded by teenage girls, gossiping, giggling, whispering. . .

. . .his own personal horror story came to an abrupt stop as two guards, one tall and skinny, the other short and stocky with a handle bar mustache, strode out of the door that said SECURE AREA, on either side of a trembling, sobbing Jun. "What did they do to you?", Carter asked in wonder, looking at his sobbing friend. The guards released him, and Carter grabbed one of Jun's arms. Jun was shaking uncontrollably.

The short stocky guard started to walk down the hall with his friend, then he turned around, pointed at his two eyes with two fingers, then pointed at the Spartans. Then he wiggled his fingers, and said in a southern drawl, "I'ma watchin' you." He walked away backwards.

"What did they do to you?", Carter asked Jun again, after his sobbing had reduced to hiccups and sniffles.

"St-strip search . . .", Jun answered shakily.

"Did they-", Carter started.

"Don't. Want. To. Talk about it!", Jun exclaimed, wiping his eyes. There was no way in bloody earth that he would reveal what lay beyond the door.

~##~

Carter and Jun finally arrived back with Noble Team just in time for them to board the plane. The team had their tickets scanned, and they proceeded down the tunnel towards the plane, Rosenda and Jorge in the lead, holding hands and smiling. "I hope we get to see some civilian babies.", Rosenda said, "We never get to see them normally." The two social butterflies skipped ahead of the team, trying to find their assigned seats. The rest of Nobel was trying very, very hard not to shoot themselves. It was a good thing they weren't allowed guns.

"Oh, no.", Rosenda moaned, "We don't sit together."

Jorge looked down at his teammate with a sad expression on his face, "Maybe we'll be together when we come back."

Rosenda stuck out her bottom lip, "But I don't want to sit together next time, I want to sit together now."

"You know what they say, Rosie? Civilians say that every moment apart makes the relationship stronger. So let's exercise our relationship, okay?", Jorge consoled his friend. She nodded, then flounced away to her seat, her red brown curls swaying behind her.

When Emile found out that he was sitting right next to Jorge, he knew the flight was going to be a long one. Jorge sighed, wishing he was with Rosenda. Emile sighed, wishing he was killing aliens.

Carter, Jun, and Kat sat together in the same row. When Carter tried to squeeze in to the window seat, Kat shoved him aside and jumped in the seat before the other two could. "I've got the window seat!", she sang mockingly.

"Curses!", Jun swore, bitterly disappointed. Carter gestured for Jun to sit in the middle seat, but Jun replied, "No way, Oh Holy Commander of Smooching. Last time I sat in between you two, I got a front row view to a lot of lip action. You are sitting next to Kat this time."

"That's too bad.", Kat meowed, "What if I wanted to kiss you this time, Jun?"

"Then Carter can sit in the middle and watch!", Jun exclaimed.

Thom found out that he sat with none of is teammates, and he spent the whole plane ride reading 'Sky Store' catalogs for the past six months. There was a great temptation to order something. You can't stare at a product for ten minutes and not want to order it, right?

"You know how her hair is kind of reddish brown and her eyes are really deep brown? She is so beautiful . . .", Jorge was going on about Rosenda to Emile, who had a pair of headphones plugged in, he was watching the movie that was playing. Only he didn't know how to make it so the audio wasn't Spanish. In a brief moment of insanity, he thought he should learn Spanish. _Como se llama_?

"Is there any better way to spend twenty hours?", Jun asked after throwing the Sky Store catalog back in the seat pouch, "I mean, why does Earth have to be so far away? I am so bored, and the movie is only in Hungarian and Spanish. Where do they even speak Spanish?!"

"Probably in Spain, duh.", Kat said over her data pad. Jun glanced over Carter's shoulder, and saw she was launching colorful and extremely deformed birds at green pigs, who had apparently stolen the birds' eggs.

"I wonder what Earth is like.", Carter said, "I mean, it is the origin of all humanity. It must be a neat place."

"Yeah.", Jun said, "But I don't know about our guide. I mean, she wasn't exactly full of self confidence."

"We'll see how things turn out.", Carter consoled Jun with mock courage. He was trembling at the thought of a teenage girl guiding him through the city. . .

_. . .Noble Team was in a huge, endless mall. Stores with names that looked French and hard to pronounce lined the walls, booths with cellphone charms and cases, make up and hairspray sprawled across the floor. Amaya, their teen guide, skipped along in front of them, spending hours in every store. And with every visit to a new store, one of Noble Team crossed over to the other side. . .the dark side, the demons, the _pink_ side. . . _

Rosenda got her wish to sit next to a baby, and the mother gratefully let Rosenda play with him for a while. She cooed along with the baby boy, and bounced him on her knee, and let him chew her fingers. Rosenda's daydream:

_A tiny baby hand reached up out of the blankets. The baby cried and cried,but Jorge and Rosenda's faces glowed with pride and happiness. "We'll name her Jorgenda. . .", Jorge said. _

All in all, is was a miserable flight for most of Noble Team.

~##~

After twenty hours of holding it in, Thom bee-lined for the restrooms, while the rest of his team located the guide. It was early morning, but none of the Spartans were tired. They were built to stay up with little sleep.

"There she is!", Rosenda pointed to the girl that had appeared on the telecom. She was standing in a group of teenagers, wearing a pink shirt. Carter shuddered, breaking out in a cold sweat. "Excuse me, miss!", Rosenda jogged up to the group, "Hello, are you our guide?"

"Ah, yes. You're Noble Team? The girl surveyed the six Spartans, "I was told there was seven."

"Thom—our seventh—is in the_ bathroom_.", Kat explained, "I'm Kat, that's Rosenda, the big guy's Jorge, then there's Jun, Carter, and Emile."

The girl nodded, swished her long blond hair over her shoulder, and offered Kat her hand, "Amaya. Nice to meet you all. I'm your guide for the next two months. Tagging along is my friend, that one there, in the skull shirt, is Yume.", Amaya pointed to the only girl that remained of the dispersed group or teenagers. She had short, spiky hair that was bleached white, and one of her eyes was red.

"How do you make your eye red like that", Emile asked, wanting to imitate it. . .

. . ._The sea of Covenant grunts, Elites, and Hunters gazed at the top of the hill, where a lone soldier stood. A blinding light shone from behind him, casting his face into shadow. As the light dimmed they saw a Spartan, helmet under one arm, face scarred, tattooed with skulls. One red eye stared at them mercilessly. . ._

"It's a contact.", Yume answered shortly, wishing she could be either alone or capable of talking to other people without being awkward.

"Cool.", Emile kept trying to hit it off with Yume,and failed utterly to even make her smirk until they walked out of the airport, and there is was, the Space Needle, in all it's pointy glory.

"WHAT IS THAT THING?!", Emile screamed, pointing at the Space Needle, "It's a Covie Spire! We gotta take it out!"

"No, no, no!", Amaya screamed, "That's the Space Needle! We're going to eat in that tonight! There's a restaurant, and you can see the whole city!"

"Oh, really?", Emile calmed down right away. Yume grinned broadly. This was gonna be fun.

"Uh, yeah."

"Perfect for shooting from.", Emile murmured.

"No, you can't—never mind, let's just go check into the hotel.", Amaya sighed. This was going to be a big job.


	3. Chapter 3

The hotel wasn't as bad as Noble Team thought it might be. It was actually kind of nice. It had a quiet, refined atmosphere, it made the loud, crowded, wet, dirty city outside seem unreal, even though they had just stepped inside. "Why don't you guys sit down somewhere? I'll go check us in." , Amaya offered.

Noble Team (and Yume) found some chairs and sat down, Rosenda and Jorge sharing a Love Seat. "Do any of you want something to drink?", Yume offered.

"How are you going to get us something to drink? Are you going to magic us some glasses and liquids?", Jun asked skeptically.

"_No,_ but I can go get you some water out of there.", Yume replied, gesturing to a jug full of water, with kiwis and strawberries floating around in it.

"No, thank you. I don't drink water with junk floating around in it.", Jun replied, and the rest of Noble remained silent in agreement.

"Suit yourself. It's not poisoned, y'know.", Yume shrugged and got herself some water. Noble Team liked the hotel, it just wasn't very comfortable for them, i.e., it wasn't very military.

"You guys ready?", Amaya asked, standing in front of the Spartans, who all stood up and grabbed their bags, "Okay, follow me." The group walked down a hall way to three elevators.

"Hm., I don't think we can all fit in one.", Yume said. There were nine of them, in all, "I could go up with Jorge, Emile, Jun, Thom, and Carter, if you take the girls." Yume was thinking about how much they might exceed the weight limit.  
Amaya agreed, then said, "Okay, we have two rooms, one for the guys and one for the girls. Yume and I are going to stay with the girls, and because there is more guys, they will get the bigger room. Yume and I will help you get set up."

"Wait, can we go from room to room? Or is there a curfew or anything?", Rosenda asked, wanting to be with Jorge every second, but expecting the guides to be like a military drill sergeant.

"No, there's no curfew, but we will all sleep in our separate rooms.", Amaya answered, then they all split up into two elevators. Amaya cried out, just as the doors were closing, "FIFTH FLOOR!"

Yume jammed the glowing button that read 'five'.

With a ding, the elevator stopped at floor five. Yume let all the men out first, because they were bigger than her and just a little edgy. Amaya led the whole group down to two rooms, 116, and 117. "All right, ladies are with me in 116, Yume, will you help all the guys get settled in 117?", Amaya asked.

"Sure.", Yume swiped the card over the scanner on the door, and led them all inside. Carter immediately noticed the fact that there were only three beds, and they were to small to share, so some of them would have to sleep on the floor. When he pointed this out to Yume, she laughed, "The couch folds out into a bed. Are two of you comfortable with sharing a bed?"

"I'll share with Thom!", Jun volunteered. The two fist-bumped. After showing them how to take out and put away the Hide-a-bed, Yume told them where the shower and kitchen was. Like they couldn't figure that out, but Amaya had been very strict in telling her the importance of explaining simple things to the Spartans. Yume still had the bruises from her 'lesson'.

"Come out at, like, 11:30, we're going to go to the Westlake Center and have lunch, do some shopping. Don't worry about money, Mr. Holland gave us credits for everything. You can shower or sleep or whatever. I know what I'm gonna do.", with that, Yume closed the door and promptly passed out on the hide-a-bed in the girls room, which she was sharing with Kat.

~##~

An alarm went off somewhere. Fire?! Covenant?! Or was it-?! _Oh_, Carter thought, trying to drag himself out of bed, but only managing to fall out of it, _it's the alarm clock. _Which read 12:30. He was late! They were all supposed to go to lunch! He had to wake up the others! While he dragged Emile, Thom, and Jun out of bed, he wondered how angry Amaya would be. He was sure that she could be scary when she wanted to. And Carter thought that nothing was more fearsome than a ticked of teenager in a pink shirt. The very thought made him break out in a cold sweat. Jorge had already awoken, he claimed that he hadn't slept at all, "My bed keeps creaking like it's gonna break. . ."

While his men got themselves dressed, Carter knocked on the girls door. "Hey, Carter, you guys ready?", Amaya answered, "We were waiting for you guys to wake up. Rosenda went over there but said everyone was passed out."

"Yeah, we're ready. Let's go.", Carter answered, rubbing the rest of the sleep out of his eyes. In less than ten minutes, everyone was ready but Yume.

"Hey, uh, Yume, do you just wanna stay? I mean, you've worked a lot the last couple of nights.", Amaya said to her friend, who had circles under her eyes.

"No way am I missing Daiso Japan because I haven't slept that much in three days. Manga is a demanding business. I'm used to it. Besides, I skipped breakfast so I could finish those last couple of pages. I am starving.", Yume said groggily, pulling on her hiking boots.

~~##~~

The Westlake Center was, thank goodness, relatively quiet. They all headed up to the food court, where, to Yume's and Amaya's surprise, all the Spartan's could easily get their own food. It was just like a military cafeteria, but with more options and higher prices.

"This food is so _flavorful_.", Rosenda remarked as she picked a french fry off Jorge's plate, "Wish MREs were this good." The others murmured in agreement, mouths full.

"All right, these cards hold a certain number of credits—a large number of credits—for you all to spend on this trip. Be smart with it, though, because if you spend it all, you're out of luck! This is all you get.", Amaya said as she handed out the credit cards to everybody, "You can go wherever you want, meet me at the coffee place called Starbucks that is out in front of the mall at five, then we can go get dinner."

Thom and Jun stuck together, wandering through the stores, looking for some good souvenirs, which turned out to be hats that sported the Space Needle. Amaya, who was shopping with them, said, "You guys know that you could just get those at the Space Needle tonight."

"It'd be better to get them here, they'll be cheaper.", Yume wandered in behind Amaya, chewing a long, thin stick-like cookie dipped in chocolate.

"Finally done in Daiso, I see.", Amaya snarled.

"This is record time.", Yume replied.

~##~

"Where do you wanna go next, Jorge?", Rosenda asked, clinging to the big man's arm.

"Why don't we go find Jun and Thom, and see what kind of trouble they're getting into.", Jorge suggested.

"Okay. . .Oh, what's that?!", Rosenda raced over to the Monorail ticket office, "A train? Oh, I see. It goes around the city. Let's see. . .round trip is forty minutes. . .want to go, Jorge?"

Jorge frowned, then said, "Will it be okay to leave the area? The drill sergeants always kept us on a tight leash during training missions."

"As long as we're out front by five.", Rosenda answered, handing her credit card to the ticket man.

Clean white and grays decorated the inside of the monorail, and the two Spartans felt like they were riding a breeze as the train started moving. They passed over so many people and buildings that it was overwhelming. All in all, an enjoyable ride.

~##~

"Come on, Commander. What's bothering you?", Kat asked Carter over their Dairy Queen milkshakes. Concern laced her voice.

"It's just. . .this is great and all, but I can't do it for very long. We're gonna be needed back at Reach, sooner or la—", Carter was interrupted by Kat.

"Commander, if we're needed we'll go back. That easy. How often do we get vacations? Not often. I think we need to just enjoy ourselves a little, for once. Don't you?", Kat comforted her commander, who nodded back at her. How bad could it be after all?

It seemed to take a long time for five o'clock to crawl out of it's hole and show itself, but everyone was glad when it did. Noble Team all wanted to get up in that Space Needle thing that was not a Covenant Spire, and Yume and Amaya were just as eager.

They took the monorail to the Space Needle, and then the elevator up to the top before everyone could get lost, and dizzy in the round gift shop at the base.

"It's a very good thing we have to guides with good heads on them.", Jorge muttered, after they all had watched the two young girls navigate the spinning restaurant.

"This.", Jun proclaimed, sticking his finger on the menu, "This macaroni and cheese thing."

"Hey, I wanna get that!", Thom exclaimed.

"You both can get it!", Amaya explained to the two, a little exasperated.

Dinner came and went, and the Spartans were taken aback with the richness of the food, but Jun, Thom, and Rosenda wanted dessert. "Hey let's all get that Lunar Orbiter thingy!", Rosenda suggested. After they all ordered it, Yume grinned ear to ear, inexplicably. When Carter inquired, she just shook her head and gazed out the window. From where their table had been facing the old Pacific Science Center an hour before, they were facing it again. Only an hour had passed with them in the sky.

Three waiters arrived at their table, holding steaming dishes of ice-cream, which delighted the three Spartans. While they ate, Yume announced that she was going to go up and around the outside on the deck. Emile got up and followed her up, not announcing his presence, just stalking her. Not a big deal.

Yume leaned over the railing looking down on the gray scale city. It looked a lot like Sarah V, her home planet had, before it was glassed. She wondered how many of her friends had survived. Her best friend, Jun Hyde, surely did not make it off Sarah V. It derpressed her. Yume wanted Hyde to be there with her, seeing the things she was seeing. If Hyde had survived, Yume was sure she would be in a city somewhere. Hyde always loved cities.

"You look deep in thought.", Emile commented, leaning against the railing with Yume.

"Just thinking about a person I used to know.", Yume reached up to brush her short hair our of her eyes, like it was a habit.

"Who?", Emile inquired.

"Person called Jun Hyde. She, um, died."

Emile froze. He had been on a mission a short time ago to extract Jun Hyde from a family that had been locking her in their basement.

"Where was she from?", Emile asked.

"Sarah V. . .", Yume answered.

"She's alive."

"What? Don't joke about that, it's not funny-!"

"I'm not joking. We were on a mission a while ago to rescue some kid called Jun Hyde.", Emile said.

"Where is she?", Yume turned to him.

"Don't know. She slipped away. We were in New Alexandria when she disappeared, though.", Emile said, "I'm going back inside." He turned from Yume, leaving her standing there in disbelief. She was a glassing veteran. To her, everyone she used to know was dead.


	4. Chapter 4

"I want to die.", Jun said as he tossed himself into bed, "Want. To. DIE."

"I'll shoot ya.", Emile offered.

"Oh, thank you.", Jun snapped.

The Space Needle had been amazing. The city was beautiful, it was a totally new perspective for the whole team. Not that they hadn't seen a city from up high before, but it was a first not to be shooting at something while they were up there. But it had been crowded, and that wore the Spartans out more than anything. Even Jorge and Rosenda parted for some quiet time alone. All was almost quiet in the men's room, except the noise from Carter's shower and the bickering of Jun and Thom over the fact that Jun had one more pillow than Thom.

In the ladies' room, everyone was getting ready for bed—except Yume. "What are you doing, Yume? Are you going to stay up longer?", Amaya inquired.

Yume said, "Yeah, I'm gonna draw some manga pages for my site."  
"You have a website?", Kat asked, as she lay facing Yume in her pajamas she had bought that day—pink with a blue Space Needle printed on the front.

"Uh, yeah.", Yume pulled the site up. While Yume and Kat talked computers, Amaya planned the next days activities. They could spend a lot of time at each area because they had so much time.

They should probably go to Pike's Place Market, have lunch there, and then go ride the Farris Wheel down at the water. They could wander around and go to the Old Curiosity Shop, there were so many cool things in that shop, the Spartans would be thrilled to see the mummies. She thought so, anyway.

Everyone was quiet. Yume was trying to get the blankets that Kat kept stealing over herself, until she finally gave up and listened to everyone sleep. She tried hard to stifle a laugh as she figured out it was Rosenda that was snoring. She fell asleep looking forward to the next day.

~##~

"You guys ready?", Amaya was asking. Kat pulled out of her sleep and got up, like she had been taught to wake up immediately in training. She tossed the blankets onto Yume, who was just sitting up put of bed.

"Sure, _now_ I get the blankets.", Yume grumbled.

"Where are we going today?", Kat asked.

"Pike's Place Market.", Amaya answered, "Kat, can you go get the guys up?"

"I will!", Rosenda piped in, bolting out the door in a flowery sun dress. Probably wanted to show her new dress to Jorge. All Kat had to say about that was,

"She's gonna be cold later."

~##~

"Are we gonna get breakfast?", Emile asked Yume, rubbing his stomach. His kukri was strapped to his hip.

"Yeah, at the market. What do you guys wanna eat? There's a pretty old and famous mac n' cheese place, but there is also a clam chowder place, and all sorts of other stalls.", Yume answered.

"What are you gonna have, Yume?"

"A giant pork bun!", she exclaimed, "I have always wanted to eat one of those things. I have had the little kind, but these ones are the size of a small melon!"

~##~

It was a long walk downhill to the market, and the steep hill was cause for a lot of complaining from Thom, who said, "Whose big idea was it to build a city _on _the hills?! Why didn't they just level the place?!"

"Earth is the origin of humanity. Seattle is a very old city, it is really amazing that it is still as busy and famous as it is.", Amaya replied, "They didn't really have the technology to flatten an area back then."

"Well, they should have.", Thom grumbled as they reached the bottom of the hill.

"Let's get some breakfast! Where do you wanna eat, guys?", Amaya asked, and the group looked clueless.

"Um, something with cheese.", Jun offered. At that, Amaya wordlessly headed for a shop with an old fashioned sign reading 'Beecher's', and they all got into line.

"I'll just get us all something from here, okay? Hey, wait, where's Yume and Emile?", Amaya asked, startled.

"They stepped out. Want to go find them?", Jorge said, holding Rosenda's hand.

"No, they can take care of themselves.", Amaya ordered and paid for all the little cups of macaroni, which still came up to almost a hundred dollars. "Age is expensive. These people think that because they're more than five hundred years old they can charge ten dollars for half a meal. If it's not enough food, we'll eat at a fast food place or something. You guys ever been to McDonald's?", Amaya asked.

"Whose "McDonald's?", Carter asked, and Amaya giggled, making him cringe.

"It's a restaurant. We'll eat there tonight."

"What is he _doing_?", Thom asked, pointing at a man on the street corner that was playing the piano.

"Well, he's making money by playing music. ", Amaya explained.

"That's kinda rude. We can't not listen to him, so everyone who walks by has to pay him! What a jerk!", Thom complained.

"That's not how it works. Mostly, if you like his music or feel bad for him, you donate a little money to him. But you don't have to pay. ", Amaya laughed.

The group wandered around the market. It was really like stepping back several hundred years. Stalls with fresh fruit and produce lined the cobblestone streets, more people walked than drove, and small bakeries made food right where you could see it. A light drizzle fell from the glowing gray sky, coating people in it's droplets. The green tarps that covered the stalls only did so much to keep the rain off the produce, a breeze picked up and blew the water even inside the stalls. Rosenda shivered in her little dress.

Meanwhile, Yume and Emile were eating pork buns the size of their faces, while walking along inside of the Market, looking at glass work, knick knacks, knitting, and art. They passed a large stall where strong men were throwing fish around in the air. "So, why do you keep trying to talk to me?", Yume asked Emile, sniffing some lavender sachets at one stall.

"Because you hate me.", Emile replied.

"Do you do this to everyone that hates you? And I don't hate you, I am just not overly fond of you. I am also not overly fond of anybody.", Yume said.

"Uh huh. Which is why you are even here in a city. Full of people. Great idea for a loner!", Emile said sarcastically.

"Just 'cos I am In the city doesn't mean I have to talk to people. It's more impersonal than living in the country, 'cos everyone _minds their own business_." , Yume explained, putting extra emphasis on the last couple of words and glaring at Emile as she did, "Hint, hint."

"Okay, okay I get it.", Emile said, throwing his hands in the air, "If your gonna get all sensitive-"

"I really hate you.", Yume sighed.

"SHE ADMITS IT!", Emile cried.

"Oh, hey, there they are!", Kat yelled, "Hey, Emile! Yume! Come on, let's go!" Emile and Yume strode up to the others, "You two lovebirds done flirting? What were you doing that whole time? Kissi-"

"Come on, Kat. I don't like to have to look down at shorter people.", Emile looked down at Yume, who glared and said,

"Then why are you so tall, moron?"

"Now, groupeth, we art going to 'Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe'. Followeth me-eth.", Amaya tried to speak in old English for effect, but all she got out of the group was,

"What language is she speaking?", from Jun.

The group streamed into the little earth-toned shop. Tacky souvenirs lined the shelves, a glass case was full of animals and bugs folded from dollar bills, and in the back of the shop, on either side of a door, were two mummies, their skin dried and shrunken to the bones. Emile spent a lot of time pushing other customers away, saying, "I wish the stuff _I_ killed could last this long!". Jorge watched as Rosenda got her name written on a grain of rice, and the writer grumbled about what a long name she had. Amaya was showing Carter and Kat the 'mermaids' that hung from the ceiling, and how they were made by sewing a monkey and a big fish together.

"You shouldn't have showed us those. We would have been content to think that mermaids were real, beautiful, half fish women that loved every man they saw. It's more romantic that way.". Jun said as he and Thom came up behind them.

Amaya laughed, and said, "You guys ready to go? Where's Yume and Emile?"

"Yo.", Emile said, swinging a bag in one hand, "Let's go."

"You buy something?", Jun mocked, "I thought you didn't believe in souvenirs." Emile punched him hard on the arm. Yume followed him out, softly singing,

"Para-para-paradise"

~##~

"So, this is McDonald's?", Carter said, in awe. The group got in line and ordered, mostly just choosing something they thought they could pronounce without embarrassing themselves, because they had never eaten there before, they had no preferences.

The food, as always, was salty and fried, but Jorge commented, "You look so beautiful with grease on your face.", to Rosenda, who blushed and giggled, while Emile tried not to gag.

"Loud restaurant is loud.", Thom whined, sucking out the bottom of his milkshake cup, Yume was sure.

"Are we ready to go back to the hotel?", Amaya asked. Everyone was up immediately.

~##~

When the two girl guides were the only two up, and everyone else was either asleep or very good at pretending, Amaya sat down in the hall with her back against the wall, next to Yume. She took a deep breath, then said, "Do you and Emile, um, have a . . . a thing."

Yume's eyes got big, then she said, "Oh, no.", in one breath, "We just . . .hate each other the same."

"Yeah, that makes no sense."

"Well, we both hate everybody, including each other. That's all we have in common. That's all that's going on.", Yume insisted.

"Yeah, which is why you keep hanging with him. It really looks like there is some definite 'things' going on."

"Amaya, if you start one more sentence with 'yeah'. I'm going to shoot myself. One: he's ten years older than me. Two: he wants to shoot everyone he sees. Nothing is going on other than some conversation from somebody that gets what it's like to have everyone you know die. That's it."

"Okay. . .well, I am going to bed, then. You should, too.", Amaya patted her friend on the shoulder, then closed the door to the girls room.

Yume stood up a little while after Amaya had gone to bed. She turned the door knob, but it wouldn't budge. It was locked. Amaya probably had accidentally locked it when she went to bed. Yume searched all her pockets, but she was in her pajamas and did not have a key card on her. Even though she knocked, no one answered. "I bet she locked me out on purpose.", Yume grumbled, knocking on the men's door.

Emile answered, and she explained that she had been locked out.

"Well, you can't sleep in here.", Emile started to close the door in her face, and she exclaimed,

"You as-", but then Emile opened it, laughing, and pulled her in. Carter and Jorge were still up, playing cards, and it was obvious that Carter was losing, because he was cursing everything he could think of. Thom and Jun were lost in a late night anime that was on, rooting for their favorite characters.

Emile sat down and started to sharpen his huge kukri knife.

"How did you get that through airport security?", Yume asked.

"Magic.", he replied.

_LOL_, Yume thought as she fell asleep on the bed. Emile's bed. Which probably was not a good thing.


	5. Chapter 5

The alarm clock read one o'clock A.M., and Carter and the rest of the men used their noggins for once and decided it was time for bed. "What do we do about _her_?", Emile asked, nodding at Yume. Carter and Jorge looked at each other, then back at Yume and Emile, then at each other again. They both cried,

"She's in your bed!", at the same time, then leaped into their adjacent beds. Jun and Thom pretended to be asleep already, even though the anime with a lot of fan service was still on. And both their noses were bleeding. They couldn't stop giggling.

Emile sighed, looked down at Yume, and sighed again. She looked so peaceful when she was sleeping, almost like she didn't hate everyone in the whole world. Almost like her planet hadn't had it's surface melted under Covenant ships., almost like. . .Well, he had to sleep somewhere. Emile picked her up and laid her down on the floor next to his bed. Yume did not wake up.

~##~

It was morning too soon. Emile rolled out of bed, falling on Yume, who offered a sharp jab to the ribs that made even the Spartan III grunt in pain. "First, you put me on the floor, then you fall on me. Yeah, I get it that you hate me, but do me a favor and _stop trying to kill me_.", Yume complained.

Jun asked from under his covers, "Do we have to leave yet?"

"Not until Amaya comes around and gets us.", Yume answered, climbing into Emile's bed now that he was out of it and would not evict her. The night on the floor had left her sore and when Emile sat on the edge of the bed to put his boots on, she kicked him. It caught him off guard, and he disappeared over the edge of the bed. Yume laughed at him, even harder when only his eyes appeared over the edge of the bed, glaring like a vengeful spirit.

Jun ignored the two arguing at the other side of the room and turned the T.V. onto the channel that the anime had been on the night before. Hoping to catch more fan service before he started his day, he was sorely disappointed when a colorful, and clean-mouthed cartoon girl taught the viewers Spanish. "What the f-?!", Jun started to cry, then Amaya burst through the door, yelling over him, "Where's Yume?!"

"You locked me out!", she replied angrily form under her blankets.

"Oh, yeah, that. . ." Amaya grumbled.

"YOU KNEW?!", Emile yelled angrily, "She had to sleep in here because of that! I had to give up-"  
"You didn't have to give up anything!", Yume cried, "You put me on the floor!"

"Okay, okay, guys, let's all just get ready to go, we're going to the International District today, so let's get going!", Amaya said over the two arguing. By the time everyone was up and ready, it was nearly noon, and Amaya ordered them all to walk to the International District, which basically resulted in Jun falling to his knees and begging for food from a homeless man driving a cart full of plastic bags.

"Do you run a grocery store?!", Jun asked the man, "You must have some food to spare?!"

"Get lost ya foot-kissing laddy, 'n get yourself a job. Yer a well lookin' kid, some one'll getcha a job.", the older man spit at the concrete, and everyone shuffled nervously away from him while Jun clung to his leg.

"Well, I think Jun is a lost cause, so let's just move on. I thought we could all have dim sum for lunch—you can eat as much or as little as you want, and depending on how much you eat, that is what the cost is. If you try whatever you want there, then we can visit all the smaller restaurants and get snacks. There is always something good to eat here!", Amaya explained, leading the group onward through the District.

The dim sum restaurant was noisy, with sticky booths, but all the same, Noble didn't really eat in five star restaurants. Carter, Kat, and Amaya sat at one booth (with Jun squished in between Carter and Kat, who kept flirting over him) , Emile and Yume sat together, (Yume's comment was, "Why do I always get stuck with you?") Thom kicked Emile under the table, and a game of footsy soon ensued. Jorge and Rosenda shared their own booth, on the other side of the restaurant.

A middle-aged woman came by the tables, with small plates of food the Spartans didn't recognize much of. "Here, Commander.", Kat said, picking up a dish with long, white noodles on it, "This one looks good for sharing." She picked up the end of one noodle, put it in her mouth, and slurped it up. Carter got the message, and Jun groaned. Picking up a noodle and pulling it off the plate, he put one end in his mouth, Kat did the same, then they slurped until their mouths met in the middle—right in front of Jun, who started sobbing. Amaya blushed awkwardly, picking at her rice.

At Emile's table, the game of footsy had ended, and Thom picked up his chopsticks, "What are these thingamajigs?" He tried tapping them on the table, then on his teacup. He stuck them up his nose, one in each nostril.

"Why does _everyone_ do that?!", Yume cried, putting her head in her hands, "Seriously, even if people don't know what they are they do that!", Yume picked up her chopsticks, picked up a pork dumpling, and popped it in her mouth.

"Why are you using toothpicks as a food handler?", Emile asked quizzically.

"_Were you two raised under a rock_?", Yume could hardly believe they had no idea what chopsticks were, "These are chopsticks, you eat food with them. Can you say that? Eat. Food. With. Them.", she spoke as if were talking to a bunch of preschoolers. Emile tried hard no to hit her. He satisfied himself with an elbow in her ribs, which made her pale.

"It's funny how even though I am bigger and faster and deadlier than you, you still try your hardest to tick me off.", Emile said, grabbing a shrimp dipped in red sauce.

"Try? This is talent.", Yume replied, then looked up from her plate, "Uh, I wouldn't eat that without rice, if I were you."

"I'll eat whatever I want.", Emile said crossly. Thom watched anxiously, the chopsticks now perched in his mouth like walrus teeth. Sweat poured down his face, anxiety filled his being, "That's. . ."

"Suit yourself.". Yume shrugged, "You are bigger, and faster, and deadlier-"

Emile's face turned bright red. He grabbed his throat, then his glass of water. Gulping it down, he grabbed Yume's glass, and then emptied Thom's as well. "Are. You. Trying. To. Kill me?!", he exclaimed, red faced and panting, his red eyes angry. Sweat poured down his face, it was hard not to laugh.

"_That_ is payback for this morning.", Yume replied, grabbing one of the same kind of shrimp Emile had just eaten, then examining it, holding it up to the light. "Chinese Death Fire Shrimp. It is said to make grown men cry. It wasn't a rumor." She glanced at Emile, a glint in her eyes that made him simply sit back down and eat what ever she and Thom pulled off the cart.

Meanwhile, Jorge and Rosenda were enjoying a couple quiet moments on the opposite side of the restaurant. While they didn't slurp up noodles like Carter and Kat had been, Rosenda was sitting on Jorge's lap, while they slurped hot tea and ate sweet red bean buns. For a while, it was like they were there alone, with no aliens, no Covenant. . .nothing to bother them.

~##~

"Geez, is this a death march or something? I wanna go with Amaya.", Emile whined, trailing behind Yume. They were in a massive Japanese bookstore, it even had an upstairs room with CDs. Yume could spend hours in there, and she had. Dusk was settling, Amaya and the rest had gone back to the hotel with their dinner and snacks.

"Look, just let me check and see if they have a Keion! manga and we can go!", she replied, scanning the shelves. Emile moaned. His legs were numb and tingly. They had already had to carry Jun back because he had passed out from drinking too many bubble teas, what was _his_ fate? If he passed out, there was no possible way that Yume could carry him back, she would probably just leave him to die. He would forever lie on the floor of a bookstore in which he could read none of the books, trampled by civilians. . .

"Hey, Earth to Emile!", Yume snapped her fingers on front of Emile's face, "I'm checking out, so come on!" He followed her into the line, which, thank his goodness, if he had any, was short. It took a long time for the few people in front of them to check out, and as soon as he heard the words, "Your total is $800.57. . .", spoken to Yume, he passed out cold. Whether it was from the exhaustion of shopping or from how much money that Yume had spent, the world will never know.

~##~

Emile woke up in bed. He expected a hospital and immediately want numb. He had a phobia of hospitals. . .of nurses in little caps. . .of needles with serum. . .he shook the thought from his head. He was in the hotel room. How had he gotten here? Yume was sitting next to the bed, reading a Japanese book. "How did you get me here?", he asked weakly. Which angered him enough to bring some strength back. Anger fueled him.

"I called Carter and Jorge, and they picked you up.", Yume answered shortly, looking away.

"Yeah, and when we carried you. . .", Carter started, but then he got a far off look, and his eyes glazed over. His head tilted upwards, like he was looking at something over all their heads.

Carter's flashback: _By the time Carter and Jorge had arrived, Yume and a worker had dragged Emile over to the side, where he would be out of the way. Yume was putting cold water on his wrists and neck, looking worried, but not overly concerned. _

_ Carter picked Emile up, and with a little help from Yume and the employee, they got him up on Jorge's back. A bright light shone behind Jorge and Emile, blowing out their features and leaving only a silhouette. Yume sat in their shadow, stunned at the beauty of the scene before her eyes. Then a customer switched off the flashlight they had been testing, and the moment passed. Yume and Carter followed Jorge all the way back to the hotel. _

_ "I didn't know if I should have called the hospital or you first. . .he is a Spartan, after all, he probably needs special treatment. . ."_, the image of Yume swirled away, and Emile's face took her place. Carter remembered where he was again. Shaking his head, he said,

"Sorry, just thinking about last night. . .", Carter rubbed rubbed his temples.

Yume shrugged, and said, "Whatever. Amaya said we could all just hang out at the hotel today. I am just going back to bed."

~##~

Meanwhile, Jun and Thom were bored. Very bored. "What should we do?", Jun moaned, stretched out across the bed.

"Watch TV?", Thom suggested.

"We already did that today."

"Why don't we go play with the elevator.", Thom offered.

Jun sat straight up, exclaimed, "That's it!", and he grabbed Thom, dragging him along behind him. When he reached the end of the hall, Jun jammed the glowing up' button as hard as he could, as if that would make the elevator come faster. The glass panel it was set in cracked. When the telltale ding that told him the elevator was at their floor, he rushed to the new arrival, and stepped into it as soon as the doors opened wide enough to get his six foot frame through. . .

. . .a little old lady in expensive velvet and silk, carrying a chihuahua in a tiny handbag, was knocked over by Jun. He picked her up by the collar, and tossed her out of the elevator, after confiscating the tiny dog.

She got to her feet, turned to Jun, who was stroking the chihuahua like it was a cat and he was a mad scientist. Glaring at Jun, she growled, "What do you think you are doing to my Fufu Napkins?"


	6. Chapter 6

The old lady set her feet apart, then pulled a bottle out of her purse. Jun smirked, stroking the little dog, he snarled, "What are you going to do, spray me with perfume?"

Smiling grimly, the old lady shook the small bottle, and pointed it right at Jun's face. His expression changed ever so slightly, to betray a small amount of doubt, but before he could do anything, the old woman had kicked up a scrawny leg, knocking the yelping chihuahua from Jun's arms, then she sprayed, holding the button long and hard.

Jun grabbed his face turning away from the old lady. He fell to the ground, clawing at his eyes. Jun felt the old lady stride past him, kicking him in the ribs, exclaiming, "Bingo!" Jun started to swear, but his throat burned so much that he stopped immediately. Crawling along the hall, he moaned, "Carter. . ."

Finally, he reached the door to the men's room, and just as he was dragging himself up to open it, Jorge slammed it open, knocking his sobbing friend back. "Jorge!", Jun croaked, "I got pepper sprayed!" Jorge looked down at his friend, picked him up, and put him in a cold shower, clothes and all.

"We are leaving Seattle as soon as you get ready.", Jorge announced, "The Commander decided along with Amaya that it was time for us to move on to somewhere else."

"So, where are we going?", Jun asked, his throat and eyes still burning.

"Anaheim, California.", Jorge replied, suppressing excitement. We're going to Disneyland."

Yume and Amaya traveled to the airport with Noble Team. Emile and Yume said nothing to each other the whole way. The cab was crowded, even though it was a van, Yume and Kat ended up sitting in the back together—not the back seat, but among everyone's luggage.

Amaya chattered happily with them all the way to security, giving them instructions, and travel tips. All that Yume said to Emile was, "Good luck.", and a thumbs up. Emile gave her the middle finger salute, but he was grinning while he did it. As if that meant anything.

The plane ride to Anaheim was considerably less miserable than the trip from Reach to Earth. Which was saying a lot. And the whole team got to sit together.

But planes are boring to the extreme. If you are reading this on an airplane, I am so sorry for you. "Want to have a juice drinking contest?", Thom asked Jun, who nodded enthusiastically, then ordered several cups pf juice from the attendant, who acted irritated, but stuck around to watch the action.

"Okay", Thom started, as he began dividing the cups evenly between the two of them, and setting them out on the trays in front of them, "The first person to drink all the cups in front of them wins." Jun nodded, then picked up the first of his fifteen cups. Some were apple, others cranberry. Then there was that golden cup of coffee. . .

Jun began dumping liquids down his throat without tasting them. In less than a minute he had drained half his cups, but Thom only had one left now. . .how had he done that?! Thom drank the his last cup, and Jun gave up, dropping the empty plastic cup onto the floor. Thom grabbed one of the five remaining cups in front of Jun, and started to finish all his, as well. Jun roared in defeat, cradling his face in his hands.

In fifteen minutes, when the attendant had gotten bored and cleaned up their mess, Thom and Jun felt a sudden urge to go to the bathroom. "Dibs!", Jun exclaimed, trying to push his way past Thom and into the aisle, but Thom was a least six inches taller than him, and thicker, too, so he shoved Jun right back into his seat, and raced down the aisle ass fast as his full little bladder would allow him.

Wondering why they didn't augment his bladder, as well as his stomach, Jun hurried behind Thom. Whispering loudly, Jun complained, "I called dibs!"

"Well, tough! I got here first!", Thom replied, pulling the door to the bathroom open and ducking in.

Or trying to. He banged his head on the top of the door frame, cussing as his shoulders were to wide for him to fit through. Thom glared back at Jun, who hadn't even tried to stifle a snicker, and his grin went unsmothered. "This isn't over", Thom growled, "I will know victory."

"Can we go on Splash Mountain?!", a young boy exclaimed, pulling his mother in that direction.

"Of course, sweetie.". She cooed down at him, making Emile gag.

"Did we have to come here?", Jun moaned, dragging his feet, "I mean, there are people here!"

Kat glared at Jun, daring him to insult the cartoon mouse that was one of her fondest memories of her home—before she became a Spartan, that is. She still remembered the squeeze, in-puberty voice of Mickey Mouse, laughing out of her television and making her laugh with him. It was scary what a man with a dream could do.

"You know, Mickey Mouse was originally going to be called Mortimer Mouse, but Walt Disney's wife convinced Disney to change his mind.", Rosenda recalled, clasping Jorge's huge hand with both of her smaller, scarred ones.

"Just another show of how scary women can be.", Jun muttered to Emile with a glance at Kat.

"I bet she tortured him.", Emile replied.

The group wandered into Tomorrow Land, and got in line for Space Mountain. "Like we haven't seen enough mountains.", Thom grumbled.

"_Yeah, but this one's on space._", Carter said sarcastically.

"Really?", Thom asked hopefully. Carter glared at him.

A large amount of the Disneyland population was wearing mouse ears, of many different sizes and colors. Some weren't even vaguely mouse shaped, Kat had noticed, analyzing the situation. She tapped a kid on the shoulder, harder than she had meant to, apparently, because he jumped, yelping, then rubbing his shoulder. "Uh, sorry.", Kat apologized, "Where did you get your hat?"  
The boy's young face lit up, and he explained where the hat shop was. His mom smiled at Kat, but it was a wary smile, the kind moms wear when they aren't quite sure whether they should be passive, aggressive, or defensive. Kat memorized the instructions, and looked up at Carter as he tugged at her sleeve,

"It's our turn."


	7. Chapter 7

Kat crammed into the car next to Carter, shoving her straw hat and sunglasses into the mesh bag in front of her like she had been instructed. Adrenaline pumped through her as the ride started, and with a sudden lurch the ride pulled forward into darkness.

Stars zoomed past them so fast that they turned into blurred lines. Jorge tried and failed to find a way to get his long legs comfortable in the small space allowed him, he ended up invading Jun's space. The sound was so loud that Rosenda covered her ears to shield herself from it. A couple other normal people without augmented ears covered at least one of their ears.

Thom was practically jumping up and down in his seat driving the young boy next to him nuts. "Dude, would you please knock that off?" Thom settled into a state of suppressed excitement.

The ride lurched into action, spinning past stars, and the sun in the middle. Kat scoffed, thinking that this was nothing like space travel, but Carter was having the time of his life, gripping Kat's arm and _grinning. _

Once the ride was over six more or less happy faces met at the nearest restaurant, a space themed pizza place with prices that could make you want to shoot yourself. It was too bad guns weren't allowed in Disneyland.

Everyone ordered two overpriced meals, as Spartans, they ate huge amounts of food every time they could get it. This was one of the few times that their eating wasn't regulated by a doctor, either. Emile scarfed down his pizza, saying, "That ride was so obviously fake. Flying through space is nothing like that."

Carter scoffed, and set down his drink. Kat though, _Here we go_.

"Yeah, if you walk onto it, knowing that it is fake! If you woke up on that, had no idea where you were, and many other important but unlikely factors, you just might possibly think you were in space!"

"Maybe if you were a toddler!", Emile shot back. Jun snickered.

"That was a weak argument, Commander.", Kat chastised, "Too many holes." Carter finished his pizza dejectedly, cussing under his breath.

"Where should we go next?", Jorge asked after they had finished eating.

"Why not go to the Matterhorn?", Rosenda suggested.

"All the way across the park? Isn't there something we can do in this area?", Kat asked, looking at the big, snowy mountain top.

"But I really want to go! We can do stuff over there, too!", Rosenda pouted. Kat sighed, and wordlessly led the group on. The crowds were massive, and being around so many people sent chills up all their spines.

"You think the Matterhorn ride is actually a mountain-climbing exercise?", Jun asked Thom.

"That activity is probably not very enjoyable to the general public.", Thom answered.

"It was to Jon Krakauer! He was a l_egend_, man!", Jun exclaimed.

"He was also one of the few, rare individuals that climbed Mount Everest.", Kat butted in, "In many ways, not an ordinary man that can represent the 'general public'."

"Have you guys read his book, 'Into Thin Air'?! It was amazing!", Jun threw his arms up in the air, knocking the people to his sides to the ground.

"Yeah, amazingly _depressing_.", muttered a girl he had knocked down.

Jun narrowed his eyes at her as she picked herself up. "Were you eavesdropping?", he growled suspiciously.

"I was doing this thing called _walking_.", the girl said very slowly. It reminded Emile of Yume a tiny bit, so he snickered.

"What?!', Jun turned on him as the girl walked away.

"_Nothing_.", Emile returned his face to the regular, stoic, stone cold look that it normally maintained.

Noble Team got in line for the Matterhorn, hoping it wouldn't take as long as the sign said it would. None of them were up to waiting two hours to get on a ride.

"If we don't get on _now_, it will just be busy _later_.", Rosenda explained, "After this, we should go on Splash Mountain!"

"How do you know so much about this place?!", Emile exclaimed.

"Why,_ again_, with the stuff on the other side of the _cussin'_ park?!", Kat bellowed.

~##~

Finally, it was their turn, and the ride was so fast and jerky that Jorge wondered why they had waited so long to sit down, get an ugly white monkey shoved in their faces, then get off in two minutes.

But Rosenda looked so enchanted when there was an opening in the mountain and she could see almost the whole park, so it was worth it.

Again, Noble trudged over to Splash Mountain, thinking how Rosenda was just like a drill sergeant, telling them where to go and when, yelling at them when they were too slow. No one knew how she had so much knowledge of the place, but everyone regretted existing when they all finally took their seats in a log on Splash Mountain.

Emile didn't realize what being in the front seat meant on that ride, but Rosenda knew, so she sat clear in the back, so that, "Everyone else could have a better view.", and she wouldn't get wet. Jorge sat right in front of her, and his seven foot frame was the perfect water-stopper. The singing animals gave Emile a headache, and the way that Carter was blushing and kind of giggling disturbed him. Spartans didn't _giggle_.

Their log hooked jarringly onto a conveyor belt that carried them steeply upward. Emile figured they were just in for another round of singing-animal induced torture, so he turned back to crack a joke at Jun, who had been shaking the whole time right behind Emile from either cold or fear or both. Jun's eyes were wide open, the whites taking up most of his eyes.

"What's up with you, man?", Emile asked, kind of crossly. His face wasn't _that_ ugly. Was it?

Jun pointed a shaking finger in front of him. The log had stopped its ascent, but right as Emile turned back forward, they all plummeted fifty feet down into a pool of water. Freezing water sloshed over the front and sides of the boat, soaking Emile, Jun, and Kat, who were in the first few seats. Emile swore, very loudly. Jun started sobbing, comparing the ride to the water training he had received. Carter laughed and hugged Kat, while Rosenda giggled, completely dry.

"Okay,", Rosenda said, holding back excitement, "The next one we need to go on is 'It's A Small World'. It is a little far, so we need to run a little bit."

Little did they know, some members of Noble Team would make wonderful memories, while for others the ride would end in misery and regret.

~##~

The tall, white castle came into view, with an annoyingly cartoon clock face right in the center. Emile heard the theme song of the ride and tried to step out of line, but Jun, Thom, and Jorge grabbed his arm in an if-I-go-down-you-come-with-me gesture. Kat shrugged at them, thinking, _How bad can it be?_

They all loaded into a simple boat that didn't look too trustworthy, but they got in anyway. They heard a dull thud as the boat touched the bottom of the 'river' that was too lead them into the ride. Everyone looked up at the scrawny teen that was operating the system, and he said, "We'll break this group up according to weight. Um, the ladies, you and you", the teen said, pointing to Thom and Jun, "Need to go in the next one. The rest of you just stay where you are." Rosenda, Kat, Jun, and Thom watched as the rest of their team floated away into the dark tunnel.

The ride was comfortably warm even thought they were over water. "It's a small world, after all. It's a small world after all. . ." Brightly colored and dressed dolls sang in eerily well synchronized voices for kids. Through room after room, the boat floated _very slowly_. Emile wished very much he had an assault rifle with him.

Carter wasn't sure what he thought at first, but when he got to the Hawaiian section of the ride, he grinned broadly. He had always wanted to go to Hawaii. Little girls swayed their grass skirts, singing in high-pitched voices. A look of rapture came over his face, Emile bit his fist to keep from laughing.

Jorge had no idea what to make of the many singing robot/dolls. He vaguely hoped that there would be a Hungarian section, but there was no way to tell. Personally, he kind of enjoyed it. Why not? He was there, making memories with his team. He wondered if his parents had ever taken him to Disneyland before he was conscripted into the Spartan program. Did Reach have a Disneyland? Jorge thought he remembered advertisements for a 'Moaland'. . .

Emile had tried making fun of his teammates reactions, tried cracking crude jokes about the dancing puppets, tried recreating the song into something R-rated, but still the ride went on. He had used up all of his tricks, tools, and schemes to deal with things he hated. And now there was nothing to distract him from the real, innocent song, the happy wooden faces. Emile tried with all his heart not to vomit, and failed. He leaned over the edge of the boat and puked into the water.

In the other boat, Rosenda was cheering every time they entered another section of the ride. She was a sucker for bright colors. Kat was interested in the mechanics of the ride, but beyond that the repetitive tune was getting to her, and she was tarting to get a headache with all the loud noises. Thom and Jun were playing cards, not even paying attention to the ride.

Finally, they floated into a room with walls lined with postcards and they were speaking English. All the postcards had 'goodbye' written on them in different languages. When Jorge saw the Hungarian postcard, he grabbed the green Emile's shoulder, shook it, and said, "See that one? That one there? It says 'good bye' in Hungarian. That's so cool."

"Jooorrge. . .", Emile groaned, then he clapped a hand over his mouth. He was still sick. . .

~##~

"I am never taking orders from Holland again!", Emile cried when he exited the ride, the last one to get off, "he must be delusional, sending us on a #$%ing vacation!"

Everyone ignored him, pushing through the crowd, eager to get on some adrenaline-inducing ride to knock the annoying song out of their heads.


End file.
